Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Weeks after his special "The Closer" was criticized for its jokes aimed at transgender people, Dave Chappelle has addressed the controversy.
He'll meet with "the transgender community" that takes issue with his jokes about trans people, he told audiences at a gig in Nashville on Sunday -- but is "not bending to anybody's demands," he said in videos posted to his verfied Instagram account.
Chappelle, who appeared in Nashville alongside Joe Rogan, who's been criticized for dismissing the effectiveness of vaccines, and other comedians, shared a section of his set in which he asked audiences if he's "canceled or not?"
"It's been said in the press that I was invited to speak with transgender employees at Netflix and I refused," Chappelle said at the beginning of the five-minute clip. "That is not true. If they had invited me I would've accepted, although I am confused about what we're speaking about.
"I said what I said and boy, I heard what you said," he continued, apparently addressing trans employees at Netflix, some of whom participated in a walkout last week after the company continued to defend "The Closer." "My god, how could I not? You said you wanted a safe working environment at Netflix. Well, it seems like I'm the only one who can't go to the office anymore."
"I want everyone in this audience to know that even though the media frames it as though it's me versus that community, that's not what it is. Do not blame the LBGTQ [sic] community for any of this s---. This has nothing to do with them. It's about corporate interest and what I can say and what I cannot say."
"For the record -- and I need you to know this -- everyone I know from that community has been nothing but loving and supportive. So I don't know what all this nonsense is about."
In "The Closer," Chappelle joked about trans women's genitalia and TERFs (or trans-exclusionary radical feminists), among other topics. Trans comedians told CNN earlier this month they felt that the comments were an example of "punching down" on those with less power and a betrayal of the astute social commentary for which Chappelle is known.
In his Nashville set, Chappelle went on to discuss the series of comedy shows he staged in small-town Ohio in the summer of 2020, some of which were filmed for an upcoming documentary. But because of the criticism surrounding "The Closer," Chappelle told audiences, he has been disinvited from several film festivals and "today, not a film company, not a movie studio, not a film festival ... will touch this film."
"Thank God for Ted Sarandos at Netflix," he told the audience of the company's co-CEO. "He's the only one that didn't cancel me yet."
"To the transgender community, I am more than willing to give you an audience," he said. "But you will not summon me. I am not bending to anybody's demands."
Chappelle said he has three conditions for those who want to meet with him: "You must come to a place of my choosing, at a time of my choosing. And thirdly, you must admit that Hannah Gadsby is not funny." (Gadsby, a lesbian comedian whose specials "Nanette" and "Douglas" are also streaming on Netflix, criticized Sarandos for standing behind "The Closer" earlier this month.)
"You cannot have this conversation and exclude my voice from it. That is only fair," Chappelle said. "You have to answer the question -- am I canceled or not? Now let's go."
Chappelle announced that the documentary on his pandemic comedy shows will be released in theaters in 10 cities in the US and Canada throughout November, along with live performances from Chappelle and other guests.
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.